Time qualifiers can now apply for the 2027 Boston Marathon as race organizer Boston Athletic Association officially opened its registration portal on Monday in a nearly week-long period to build the field for next year’s race.
The BAA said that it will continue using the same process that dates back to 2021, which will allow any athlete with a currently valid qualifying time to submit an application this week.
Hopefuls will have to meet the same standard as last year’s race, with many times becoming five minutes faster than past races and the 2027 race will also be subject to how the BAA views qualifying events with steep downhill courses. The organization announced in June that races with 1,500 feet or more of net elevation loss gives runners a major advantage and will adjust those submitted finish times with a five-minute increase once officials review the results.
Meanwhile, ten minutes will be tacked onto times with 3,000 to 5,999 feet and any race with more than 6,000 feet or elevation drops will not be considered as a Boston qualifier.
Next year’s Boston Marathon will be held on April 19, 2027 on Patriots’ Day, an official holiday recognized in Massachusetts and Maine.
And like previous years, the BAA pointed out on Monday that simply meeting a standard does not guarantee an automatic selection as applicants will be subject to a cut-off even if the standard is met.
There will likely be significantly more time applicants than available slots for 2027, a hurdle of note for thousands of runners annually and has become an increasing issue for qualifiers in the last decade.
The field for next year’s race is expected to stay at around 30,000 participants and last September, the BAA said that 24,362 people were selected as time standard applicants, with charity runners making up the rest of the allocation.
Applicants will be notified in early October if they were selected and for the time qualifiers falling outside of the cut-off, a new Boston Qualifier Selection random ballot will pick around 1,000 peeople from that pool of registrations to take part in the 2027 event.
